Jaguar TCS Racing Team Principal James Barclay is very much aware that the Coventry-based outfit must “deliver to stay in the championship fight”, with this weekend’s inaugural Portland E-Prix marking the start of the final five races of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
It’s certainly crunch time for Jaguar, who head to the West Coast in need of a big points haul, following a very frustrating double-header in Jakarta. For the second time this season, Sam Bird took out team-mate Mitch Evans in the first race in the Indonesian capital, before the Briton failed to start race two due to a technical fault. Evans was able to claim a rostrum in race two, adding valuable points to the team’s total. The Kiwi also kept his Drivers’ Championship hopes alive.
Focusing on Jaguar, the British side enter this weekend third in the Constructors’ Championship, and forty-one points behind TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team. With only five rounds remaining, Jaguar can’t afford another nightmare race like they did in Jakarta, given that it’d see them out of the title fight.
Barclay is confident that his side are focused on how to “execute the best performance” from the I-TYPE 6 in the final rounds of this thrilling season, and not buckle under the pressure.
“Everyone at Jaguar TCS Racing is looking forward to being back in the United States and racing on US soil in what will be our final new circuit of the season. Racing in Portland will bring the thrill of Formula E to a new audience and we embrace the challenges and opportunities that come with this high-speed and technical track.
“Coming into the final rounds of the 2023 Season, we understand what we need to deliver to stay in the championship fight. Naturally teams will start to feel some pressure and intensity rise at this stage, instead we are focussed on our approach, strategy and the objective which is to execute the best performance that we can.”
